


cause you've got that one thing

by thedarknesswithin (babylxxrry)



Series: Christmas Gifts 2017 [1]
Category: Pentatonix, Superfruit
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, MeetCute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-18 09:36:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13097343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babylxxrry/pseuds/thedarknesswithin
Summary: A tinkling chime rings somewhere above his head when he walks in, and well. This was different than he’d been expecting. It’s a cozy little place, a couple of small tables and chairs crammed into the front and two armchairs that look well-loved residing near the back. There’s gently-warm lighting that soothes Mitch’s oh-shit-i’m-going-to-be-late jitters.“Hi!” A voice from the counter pulls Mitch away from his admiration of the décor. “How can I help you?”[mitch just wants an almond milk latte but gets so much more than that]





	cause you've got that one thing

**Author's Note:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS, MORGAN, THIS IS YOUR CHRISTMAS GIFT I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I HOPE YOU LIKE IT
> 
> based on the prompt: "Omg I just went to get a latte from my regular coffee shop and I always have the same guy serving me and I must bug him so much as I would always ask for almond milk (im lactose intolerant) but they would just have lacto free so I stuck with that and today as I drank my latte I could tell the difference in the milk and asked if they started serving almond milk and the guy just shyly said “well you always ask if we have it so i got it specially for you” thiS GUY BOUGHT THE MILK WITH HIS OWN MONEY I FEEL SO PREVILEDGED RIGHT NOW EAAAAHH"

Mitch rolls out of bed to his roommate shaking him awake.

“Wha-?” He mumbles as Charles taps him repeatedly on the shoulder.

“Get up, Mitch, your alarm’s been going off for the past twenty minutes and your class starts in ten.”

“ _Shit_ ,” Mitch snaps to full wakefulness. “Shitshitshit.”

Charles stands in the middle of the room looking mildly amused as Mitch scrambles around him trying to pull a sweater and skinnies on.

“ _Christ,_ Charles, can you please move, I need to get to my desk,” Mitch says as he almost knocks his poor roommate over trying to get to the homework he was finishing last night.

Everything gets shoved unceremoniously into Mitch’s backpack before he’s out the door with a breathless wave goodbye to Charles and feet headed straight for his usual Starbucks… which stop abruptly when he sees how long the line is. Usually, about ten minutes earlier than this, he’s at the front of that line, but not today.

He knows the student-run café four doors down from his first class of the morning serves coffee, but he’s never been, and he’s not sure if he wants to risk it. When he considers facing the entire morning schedule of back to back classes with no break until two, though, it looks more bleak than whatever shitty coffee he might be able to find at the café so he sighs and makes his (reluctant) way towards that building.

A tinkling chime rings somewhere above his head when he walks in, and well. This was different than he’d been expecting. It’s a cozy little place, a couple of small tables and chairs crammed into the front and two armchairs that look well-loved residing near the back. There’s gently-warm lighting that soothes Mitch’s oh-shit-i’m-going-to-be-late jitters.

“Hi!” A voice from the counter pulls Mitch away from his admiration of the décor. “How can I help you?”

Mitch looks over and blinks when he sees who’s talking to him. It’s a tall, broad-shouldered blonde, someone Mitch hasn’t seen around before, but _hot damn_ , this boy is _gorgeous._ His nametag says _Scott,_ and Mitch thinks that fits perfectly.

“Um, hi,” Mitch stumbles over his words as he tries to recover from being hit in the face with this Adonis and trying to read the menu all at once. “Could I please have a latte? With almond milk? Also I’m kind of running late for class so if you could be quick that’d be fantastic.”

The smile dims a little off Scott’s face. “Oh. I’m sorry, we don’t have almond, but we do have soy? And of course, we’re quick here. Most of us are students or alum, we get it. Also could I have your name?”

“That’s fine, and I’m Mitch,” Mitch nods, because even though he’s not a massive fan of the way soymilk sits on his tongue, he’ll take it over milk milk.

Scott nods and rings it up. “That’s two dollars even.”

Mitch raises his eyebrows as he hands over two dollar bills. This is possibly the cheapest coffee he’s had the entire time he’s been here, and he’s a junior.

“Like I said,” Scott says over his shoulder as he heads back into the prep area, “We’re all students or alum. Six bucks for a latte is too much.”

Mitch can’t help his smile as he steps to the side of the counter out of habit even though there’s no one here.

It’s no more than a minute later that Scott passes over a cup with _Mitch :)_ scrawled on the side.

“Have a good day!” Scott calls as Mitch dashes out the door with a wave.

“Thanks, Scott!”

He slides into class with two minutes to spare, and he sips at his latte, blinking a little when the coffee is actually pretty decent. It’s a little spoiled by the fact that the soymilk coats his tongue and dulls the flavor, but it’ll do. Maybe he’ll go there tomorrow, instead of shelling out another six for a Starbucks, even if they do have almond milk.

The whole day he keeps an eye for Scott, though he doesn’t spot him. He’s probably not a senior. Maybe a junior. Mitch mostly has classes with seniors, of which he only sees a few on a regular basis, and even fewer of which he actually _interacts_ with on a regular basis.

The day’s classes go fast, and Mitch wants to thank the caffeine in his system, but maybe it’s just that he’s too preoccupied with trying to spot Scott amongst the various groups of students milling around the quad.

He stops by the café again on his way back to the dorm, but Scott’s not there. There’s a shorter, bearded man in his place and his nametag says _Avriel_ , and wow, if everyone that works here is this hot, Mitch should spend all his time here. Avriel informs him that Scott works the graveyard shift, from around 11pm to 8am. When Mitch’s eyebrows rise of their own accord about the shift length, a laugh rumbles from Avriel’s chest. _There’s so rarely anyone here at that time that Scott kind of does all of his thesis work at night and sleeps during the day._

And, oh, that’d mean that Scott’s probably in the grad program, which is fine, and probably better than if he were a junior.

Mitch makes a special trip out that night, walking across the quad with his bag slung over his shoulder, getting to the door of the café just after eleven.  He’s got a paper and a half to finish, so he might as well do it with some coffee in him.

The chime from earlier this morning startles Mitch as he pushes the door open.

“Hi, how can-” Scott’s voice precedes him, the door to the kitchen swinging open before he stops short. “Oh, hi! Mitch, was it?”

And Mitch finds that he quite like way his name rolls off Scott’s tongue. He nods, smiling.

“Back so soon?”

Mitch shrugs, blush heating his cheeks. “I, um. I liked the coffee.”

Scott nods knowingly. “It’s good stuff. Give me a minute to get set up and then I’ll get you your latte. Soy, right?”

Mitch nods again. As he pushes two tables together to spread his books out on, he wonders if Scott memorizes all of his customers’ names and orders. Probably. He seems like the kind of guy to do that. It’s just a couple minutes later that a mug of coffee slides under Mitch’s nose, and he looks up to see Scott smiling down at him.

“Latte for Mitch, soy and extra hot,” Scott says, and Mitch laughs.

“Oh my god. How did you know I like my coffee extra hot?” Because Mitch does. He just didn’t ask for it this morning when he was running so late.

Scott quirks an eyebrow. “Intuition?”

Mitch laughs again, and okay, this is getting a little out of hand. “Your intuition was right, thank you.”

Scott just smirks and walks back to the counter.

Mitch watches him for a moment before he turns back to his paper. He really does need to finish this before tomorrow morning. He tunes out Scott’s humming and quiet movements and the occasional flurry of noise that comes with harried students rushing in for a quick caffeine fix. Those slow down, though, as the clock ticks slowly from 1am to 3am to 5am.

Mitch is yawning by the time 5:30 hits, despite Scott’s constant refills of his cup. The kid doesn’t seem to be affected at all. Mitch guesses it’s just because he does it all the time.

He’s done with his paper, finally, and submits it online before he finishes his current mug of coffee and starts to pack up.

“All done?” Scott’s voice comes from somewhere behind the counter, like he’s crouching to fix something or other.

“All done,” Mitch confirms, bringing his mug to the counter. “Thank you, by the way. How much do I owe you?”

“Seven,” Scott says, standing back up. Mitch gapes at him.

“We do coffeepot deals here. If you’re just drinking black or a latte, it’s seven for a night of bottomless refills.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

“Scott for short,” Scott teases, and Mitch giggles despite himself. He yawns right after, though, and Scott’s face softens. “Go get some sleep, Mitch.”

“Sleep. Right. I’ll see you later?” Mitch mumbles, the sudden realization that he’s got four hours before his next class hitting him.

“Yep, I’ll be here again tonight,” Scott says with a little smile and a wave.

And Mitch doesn’t mean to make a habit of it, but he ends up studying at the café almost every night.  It’s quieter than their common spaces in the dorm, he finds, and Scott makes for good company. They have some interesting talks about lit and history, because as it turns out, Scott’s in the grad program for Historical Literature, of all things, and Mitch isn’t half bad at either himself.

He’s taken to the habit of getting the seven dollar deal for overnights when he needs it, and if he doesn’t, he stops by before Scott’s shift ends.

Almost two months after his very first cup of coffee, Mitch is running late again. This time it’s because he got caught up trying to console a friend crying about her test results, and didn’t notice that he needed to go to class until she’d sniffled and looked at the clock, then bundled him out the door so he wouldn’t be late.

“Hi, Mitch,” Scott says, waving, to-go cup already in hand. “You’re running behind.”

“Fuck, yeah, I know,” Mitch pants, having sprinted across campus for his coffee fix.

“I tried something new this time,” Scott says shyly, passing the cup over.

Mitch takes a hesitant sip. The coffee is smooth and light and doesn’t sit heavy on his tongue.

“Is that _almond milk_?”

Scott nods, blushing. “Is it okay? I know you wanted it, so I got a carton with my own money.”

“Oh my god, Scott, you didn’t have to. But yeah, it’s really good. I love it. Thank you so much.”

“Look under the sleeve,” Scott says, and Mitch slides the little cardboard sleeve down, turning the cup until sharpie comes into view. Oh.

_Go out with me? :D_

Mitch looks up at Scott, whose face is bright and open with earnest enthusiasm.

“Of course, Scotty, I was gonna ask you myself if you didn’t soon.”

Scott laughs, a hint of relief slipping into his tone when he speaks. “Thank god. Are you free this Friday?”

Mitch hums. “After six, yeah. Dinner at Bertucci’s?”

“Sounds good,” Scott says, and scribbles his number onto a napkin before sliding it over to Mitch. “Text me, I get off work in half an hour.”

Suffice to say Mitch stays the half hour and hey, skipping class this one time won’t kill him. He’s got a date, after all.

 

-fin.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> leave a comment or kudos if COFFEE SHOP AND COLLEGE AUS


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